Livelihood adaptation and life satisfaction among land-lost farmers: Critiquing China’s urbanisation-driven land appropriation

Large-scale rural land appropriation and displacement, driven by the unprecedented urban growth currently experienced in China, has created millions of land-lost peasants who live in the city but remain culturally, socially and institutionally rural. The situation has attracted growing attention in...

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Main Authors: Tong Weiming, Zhu Liyuan, Lo Kevin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń 2019-12-01
Series:Bulletin of Geography. Socio-Economic Series
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.2478/bog-2019-0040
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author Tong Weiming
Zhu Liyuan
Lo Kevin
author_facet Tong Weiming
Zhu Liyuan
Lo Kevin
author_sort Tong Weiming
collection DOAJ
description Large-scale rural land appropriation and displacement, driven by the unprecedented urban growth currently experienced in China, has created millions of land-lost peasants who live in the city but remain culturally, socially and institutionally rural. The situation has attracted growing attention in the literature because of its negative social impact, but relatively few studies have addressed how land-lost farmers adapt to urban ways of life and what factors influence their life satisfaction. In this paper, we investigate the predictors of livelihood adaptation and life satisfaction of land-lost farmers from a land appropriation case in the city of Changchun, Northeast China. The results show that, five years after the appropriation, livelihood adaptation remained very difficult and life satisfaction was poor among the resettlers. Furthermore, marginalised groups, such as those who were older, less educated and from smaller families, and those with lower pre-displacement income were less likely to have a higher income level after resettlement, resulting in a lower level of life satisfaction. Women also had lower life satisfaction than men. The study highlights an urgent need to improve China’s unjust land appropriation policy with a particular focus on attending to the needs of marginalised groups.
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spelling doaj-art-d382efefacdf445b939a9038ec5e1e4d2025-08-20T03:39:22ZengNicolaus Copernicus University in ToruńBulletin of Geography. Socio-Economic Series2083-82982019-12-01464614916110.2478/bog-2019-0040bog-2019-0040Livelihood adaptation and life satisfaction among land-lost farmers: Critiquing China’s urbanisation-driven land appropriationTong Weiming0Zhu Liyuan1Lo Kevin2Zhejiang University of Technology, College of Economics, HangzhouChinaHong Kong Baptist University, Department of Geography, Kowloon TongHong KongHong Kong Baptist University, Department of Geography, Kowloon TongHong KongLarge-scale rural land appropriation and displacement, driven by the unprecedented urban growth currently experienced in China, has created millions of land-lost peasants who live in the city but remain culturally, socially and institutionally rural. The situation has attracted growing attention in the literature because of its negative social impact, but relatively few studies have addressed how land-lost farmers adapt to urban ways of life and what factors influence their life satisfaction. In this paper, we investigate the predictors of livelihood adaptation and life satisfaction of land-lost farmers from a land appropriation case in the city of Changchun, Northeast China. The results show that, five years after the appropriation, livelihood adaptation remained very difficult and life satisfaction was poor among the resettlers. Furthermore, marginalised groups, such as those who were older, less educated and from smaller families, and those with lower pre-displacement income were less likely to have a higher income level after resettlement, resulting in a lower level of life satisfaction. Women also had lower life satisfaction than men. The study highlights an urgent need to improve China’s unjust land appropriation policy with a particular focus on attending to the needs of marginalised groups.https://doi.org/10.2478/bog-2019-0040land-lost farmerslivelihood adaptationlife satisfactionland appropriation and displacementchina
spellingShingle Tong Weiming
Zhu Liyuan
Lo Kevin
Livelihood adaptation and life satisfaction among land-lost farmers: Critiquing China’s urbanisation-driven land appropriation
Bulletin of Geography. Socio-Economic Series
land-lost farmers
livelihood adaptation
life satisfaction
land appropriation and displacement
china
title Livelihood adaptation and life satisfaction among land-lost farmers: Critiquing China’s urbanisation-driven land appropriation
title_full Livelihood adaptation and life satisfaction among land-lost farmers: Critiquing China’s urbanisation-driven land appropriation
title_fullStr Livelihood adaptation and life satisfaction among land-lost farmers: Critiquing China’s urbanisation-driven land appropriation
title_full_unstemmed Livelihood adaptation and life satisfaction among land-lost farmers: Critiquing China’s urbanisation-driven land appropriation
title_short Livelihood adaptation and life satisfaction among land-lost farmers: Critiquing China’s urbanisation-driven land appropriation
title_sort livelihood adaptation and life satisfaction among land lost farmers critiquing china s urbanisation driven land appropriation
topic land-lost farmers
livelihood adaptation
life satisfaction
land appropriation and displacement
china
url https://doi.org/10.2478/bog-2019-0040
work_keys_str_mv AT tongweiming livelihoodadaptationandlifesatisfactionamonglandlostfarmerscritiquingchinasurbanisationdrivenlandappropriation
AT zhuliyuan livelihoodadaptationandlifesatisfactionamonglandlostfarmerscritiquingchinasurbanisationdrivenlandappropriation
AT lokevin livelihoodadaptationandlifesatisfactionamonglandlostfarmerscritiquingchinasurbanisationdrivenlandappropriation